These notes compiled by Gerard Charles, BalletMet Columbus, February 1999

The ballet Sudden Impulse resulted from a commission for a new work from the National Ballet School. Mr. Nixon wanted to create a work for the school’s students that was of their time and moment, with music that was upbeat and to which they could relate. His search for appropriate music was inspired by an article he read in the Herald Tribune about the then new ‘technomusic.’ Mr. Nixon then went on to listen to all the technomusic he could. Although he found much of it exciting, the rhythms tended to grow too monotonous for theatrical use, or there was the intrusion of unwanted lyrics. Eventually Mr. Nixon settled on his final selection, a compilation of various artists’ music (providing the variety he wanted) blended together as a cohesive recording on one cassette. He chose the side of the cassette that most appealed to him and set about choreographing to all the music played non stop.

Mr. Nixon had a free choice (except for a few students he was not permitted to use) of whom he could cast in his new work. He wanted to include as many students as possible and ended up with 36 dancers ranging in age from 12 to 17. Beverley Miller, who assisted in rehearsing the piece, recalls that "we were a little trepidacious when David chose two students from Grade 8 and made a pas de deux for them. We had never used students below Grade 9 before. He certainly knew how to pick dancers as one of them now dances with the Hamburg Ballet and the other with the Stuttgart Ballet."

Unlike a majority of his work where Mr. Nixon likes to be inspired by the dancers and the moment in the studio, for the students he made every effort to be prepared ahead of time. Despite planning steps before he got to the studio he did not totally cut the dancers off from the creative process. He

encouraged their feedback and molded the work to the talents of the individual students. They were also given the assignment of naming the ballet, suggesting a short list of titles which they then voted on. Thus, Sudden Impulse was christened.

Mr. Nixon sensed that the students formed a special bond during the creation and rehearsal of Sudden Impulse. This led to a sense of ownership of the piece and provided an emotional link that charged the performances. Beverley Miller recalls, "It was a fabulously exciting experience to see David and Yoko work with the students, to see the kids blossom and spread their wings." The result for the Toronto Star reviewer was, "The students are clearly pumped by this powerful mix of classical technique and industrial-bass technomusic, created just for them by choreographer David Nixon."

Although what greets the eye of the viewer is a pulsating, fast driving dance, Mr. Nixon says Sudden Impulse "...reflects a lot of things in our society: a little bit of the pain, a little bit of the daily struggle, a little bit of the hope that you can do something." Although it is not important for an audience to grasp these points he did feel it was important for his own thought process and for the students who created the work. The work includes a sense of horror at the world around us (the Yugoslavian war was at its height at the time of the creation of Sudden Impulse) as well as an exploration of inter-personal relationships.

On his choice of the movement vocabulary Mr. Nixon reflected "I always like off balance and I wanted to see how I could push that with the kids. And I wanted to play a little with popular dancing, disco-club things and see how I could incorporate that into pointe technique."

When remounting the work on BalletMet’s professional dancers Mr. Nixon made some changes to individual moments to reflect the greater maturity and technical proficiency of the company dancers and to push the work further. These augmentations have continued in each successive staging to take into account the differing dancers performing the work and to maintain its contemporary feel. The ending of the ballet also changed due to the physical structure of the theater in which it is now performed. The original production was staged in a theater with a solid wall at the rear of the dancespace which the dancers were able to scale. Such a wall does not exist in the Columbus theaters in which BalletMet performs, and thus the ending had to change.

Mr. Nixon has updated the costuming for this current series of performances. The original costumes had to be made within a restricted budget ("David ended up using many more dancers than we had originally planned for in the budget so the costumes had to made affordable," said Beverley Miller) and also with consideration to the young dancers who were to wear them. David’s wife, Yoko Ichino, was seen sewing on rhinestones shortly before the premiere of the work. The new costuming consists of clothing purchased at the going-out-of-business sale of a national lingerie chain and pieces made by the BalletMet costume shop to enhance the bought articles.

Mr. Nixon does not believe that Sudden Impulse is a ballet for the ages. When producing such a ballet that is ‘of the moment’ there is always the question of when it will no longer look as fresh and stunningly new - as it did at its premiere. Probably the most ‘of the moment’ element of the original production was the music. Although no longer as contemporary as when Sudden Impulse was first performed, the music is still charged with energy. Due to its not being well known, and thus somewhat timeless in nature, the music might not age as quickly as some other forms of popular music.

BalletMet dancer Richard Tullius was one of the original cast of Sudden Impulse, being a student with the National Ballet School at the time. He appeared in many of the different sections of the work and recalls it as a rewarding experience. Richard was not one of the first students chosen for the work but found out in class one day that Mr. Nixon was interested in working with him. Richard said that the rehearsal process was a very exciting one as the school traditionally restaged existing classics or worked with choreographers from within the establishment. He was already a fan of technomusic, but had never heard of a ballet being performed to it.

Rehearsals began in September, 1993 while Mr. Nixon was in Canada for several months. Richard recalls Mr. Nixon’s early comments of uncertainty as to the final look of the piece. Although he had ideas and pictures in his head, he encouraged the dancers not to be afraid of making a mistake since he might like the "mistake" and keep it in the choreography! Despite the foregoing disclaimer Richard was impressed with Mr. Nixon’s ability to show exactly what he wanted the students to dance. It was as if the piece had already been staged, but his words did lead to a feeling of freedom in rehearsals. When the choreography was completed Mr. Nixon returned to Germany and the piece was rehearsed by Carina Bomers and Beverly Miller. Richard felt particularly challenged by Ms. Miller. "She did not just tell us what to do as our other teachers did. She would offer suggestions for various interpretations and ask what we thought the feelings should be."

On his return, a week before the Spring 1994 premiere, Mr. Nixon made a number of changes to the ballet to tighten it up and alter things that he had had some months to consider. "Everyone was very excited to perform the ballet, as it was a welcome change from the normal. There were so many nerves, you could feel it in the air," recalls Richard. Because there was so much dancing in the ballet for everyone, and no set roles, there was a very cohesive feeling among the cast members. Richard does not recall a lot of envy among the cast; the only competition seemed to concern how many performances each dancer would get.

Sudden Impulse was a part of Richard’s first performances with BalletMet, and he looked forward to its restaging since it was a ballet he knew and liked. He does not believe there were major changes in the structure of the work but affirms that Mr. Nixon did in deed make many sections more demanding. He is anticipating what awaits in the new incarnation.

John Bohuslawsky has been a lighting designer in the Columbus community for the past eight years, including the three most recent seasons at BalletMet as a stage manager and lighting designer. His BalletMet credits include the 1997 North American premiere of Requiem!!, SummerDance, and Allegoria by Julia Adam. Other area design credits include work with the University Dance Company of the Ohio State University (OSU), Contemporary American Theatre Company (CATCO) and Third Avenue Performance Space (TAPS). He has also lit the works of choreographers such as Susan Hadley, Victoria Uris and John Giffin. Mr. Bohuslawsky recently worked as Technical Coordinator for the American Dance Festival, and has worked in New York City, Montreal and Boston. He currently serves as a guest lecturer with the OSU Dance Department.